BeerBorg

Any body seen JoeC passing through lately?

I'm reducing the sea of red created by my absence and this thread got me thinking about him.

It was also a great way to bump the SMEIBBs for noobs.

Okay. I'm getting into this discussion real late.

I do basically the same thing. But I'm now doing only 1.5 gallon batches. But what I do is put the 1.5 gallons of water in my 12 qt brew pot then I figure my grain weight and multiply that by .025 (a figure I got from a Zymurgy article on BIAB) to figure out the water I'll lose to grain absorption and add that to the mash water. I will then mash with that volume of water. But as I'm mashing I'll heat up an additional gallon or so of water to "sparge" with and at the end of the mash I'll squeeze the grain bag (which sits in a strainer over the brew pot) then slowly pour the "sparge" water through the bag and squeeze it again. The additional gallon or so of "sparge" water makes up for evaporation loss during the boil. And, yes, if I'm low on my final volume I will add a little cold (room temp.) water to top it off.

I have no idea what my efficiency is doing this but I know it makes good beer.

but I know it makes good beer

And that right there is what is most important.

I think the SMEIBB method is very efficient and flexible (re: adjusting gravity if needed).

I like it mainly because I can brew inside, in all weather, and use smaller pots without needing a separate mash tun.

I've even done an all grain batch mashing in the oven using two pots and two ice baths.